The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays. Saturday, August 4, 1894. FISH CULTURE.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XVIII, Issue 3108, 4 August 1894, Page 2

The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays. Saturday, August 4, 1894. FISH CULTURE.

Asa means of adding to his income, fish culture offers to the farmer suitably located many advantages. Any farmer upon whose lands natural springs or watercourses exist could with a little labor and time raise trout for the market, the proceeds being nearly all profit. In this district trout might be raised by the hundred thousand by making use of the old Waipawa river bed. Mr S. C. Farr, an expert in the matter of pisciculture, has a very suggestive article dealing with this subject in a recent issue of the Weekly Press. Hundreds of acres of land of no value for agriculture or oven pasture, might, with little expense, be converted into suitable ponds for raising trout or other of the salmonidrc family. Either of the species will furnish an appropriate food for invalids in our hospitals or elsewhere, as v/ell as for those leading a sedentary life. It is a form of food both natural and necessary, and which should exist in most parts of this country in great profusion, from the abundance of water and other facilities we have at our command. Mr Farr enters into a discussion of the subject fortified with many years’ experience, and hence what he says is worthy of the fullest consideration. He states that a series of ponds will be found an advantage, beginning the first year with No. 1 or nursery pond, which should bo small, say about 50ft long, Gft or 7ft wido at the top, 3ft deep in the centre, shallowing off to Gin all round, connect it at the upper end with the water race or spring by a 4in glazed earthen pipe, at each end a perforated zinc screen must be fixed and well secured. This pond will then he ready and of sufficient size to rear 3,000 or 4,000 trout fry, from the time they are seven or eight weeks old, that is after they havo been feeding at the hatchery a little more than a month, when they will be able to take care of themselves and look after their food. In this pond they may he kept about eighteen months, the proper time for transferring to No. 2 pond is the latter part of February or the beginning of March,

when they will be from 3in to Gin in length if well fed and looked after, a lesson soon taught, aud easily learned by an intelligent youth. Every farm has all the requisites for food, such as curds, liver, &c., always at hand, and often thrown away. Mr Farr proceeds :—“ During the first eighteen months No. 2 pond can bo made at odd times, and not far from No. 1, so that they can easily be united. It should be 100 ft long, Bft wide at top, 4ft deep in the centre, shallowing all round to 9in ; open the trench from No. 1 into No. 2, which up to this will have been returning the water to the race, but will now bo carried on through No. 2, thence into race. The perforated screens will also be required at each end of this pond, the perforations in No. 1 to be nine to the inch, those in No. 2 eight to the inch. Let No. 2 be filled with water as soon as it is ready, and at the proper season transfer the yearlings into it. This done, let No. 1 be well cleaned out, and leave it nearly empty for a few days. You will then know that there are no yearlings left in it to devour the next season’s fry. Then in August or September make your purchase of another 3000 or 4000 for No. 1 or nursery pond, and when convenient form a No. 3 pond of larger dimen sions to provide for a second transfer from No. 2 into No. 3, well clean out No. 2, lot it fill and you can transfer from No. 1 into No. 2 at your leisure before the season for restocking No 1, when a fourth pond can bo formed about the same size as No. 3, but a little deeper in all its parts and so go on increasing tho number of ponds ad lib. In removing tho fish from No. 3 to 4 you will find many of them of a pound and upwards in weight if they havirbeon well fed. These, then, will be your first sales aud returns. Properly constructed ponds will retain the fish, and they are at hand when wanted. It is a great mistake to suppose that fish can only develop iu rivers. It is not a rapid current they require, but a moderate, constant change of water, and plonty of the right sort of food. Tho fish would be benefited by planting the shallows with weeds of tho kind which encourage tho growth of insects, aud at the same time provide them with shade, which they revel in as hiding places. Tho enumeration of a few of tho most desirable will be sufficient for tho present, viz., eel grass (Valisucria spiralis ), broad leaved pond weed (Potamogetum natans ), swoetflag (Acorns calamus). These are suitable for either ponds or the nursery.” The only defect we can see in tho article is that the table which accompanies it, and which we reproduce lowor, appears to err on the side of not allowing enough for labor. On the other hand, the amount allowed under the heading of “ food ” is certainly ample. And as he is writing for those who would not make fish culture a principal occupation, but would regard it as an adjunct to an ordinary farm, he is possibly right even with regard to labor. Be that as it may, we will lay his conclusions before our readers in his own words, which with tho table run as under : Let me now show tho expenses for rearing tbe fish to a marketable size, that is, not less than lib in weight, leaving out the cost of ponds, which will naturally dilfor according to the configuration of the land, and other circumstances. Take five years from the commencement.

Thus showing that less than half an acre will bring in a net profit of £ls 11s per annum. 1 have allowed 9000 fish for loss, which is a large percentage.

Allowing for a little enthusiasm, there cau be no doubt that there is a deal in what he urges, and as it would be so very easy in this district to utilise the old bed of the Waipawa, and possibly portions of the river along its present course, some of our farmers might do worse than give the stiggestion a trial.

EXPENSES. £ s. d. £ s. d. Purchase of 3000 fry per annum, 16,000 at GOs per 1000 45 0 0 Food—1st year 3 0 0 2nd „ G 10 0 3rd 10 0 0 4th „ 13 10 0 6th ,, 17 0 0 — 50 0 0 Labor, say 4G 0 0 £141 0 0 SALES. £ s. d. £. s. d. 3rd year, 1500 trout lib each at Gd per lb 37 10 0 4th year, 1500 trout lib each at Gd per lb 37 10 0 4th year, 500 trout 2.}lb each, at Gil per lb 31 5 0 5th year, 1500 trout lib each at Gd per lb 37 10 0 5tli year, 500 trout, 2£lb each at Gd per lb 31 5 0 4th year, 500 trout S.^lb each atGd per lb 43 15 0 ■—218 15 0 Deduct food and labour account as above 141 0 O Profit £77 15 0